Page 4 of Deliverance

There was one more day of school left for the students of Chadwick Royce High School, where I'd been teaching for the past two years. It was one of the elite schools in New York, and the only school I wanted to work at because of how exclusive and respected it was.

I was counting down the hours until summer break because I hadn’t gotten a break the year before. It had been my first year of teaching, and I'd spent the summer training. This year would be different. This year would be the sun, the ocean, fresh seafood, and many cocktails with my boyfriend, Steven. He worked from home as an insurance agent, and since I had the entire summer off, we were spending it where I wouldn't have a care in the world—at his family's house in the Hamptons.

As I was locking my classroom's door, Ember, another teacher at the school, walked up. "You're still going to Lock on Friday night, right?"

I clenched my keys in my hand after locking the door. "Of course. How could I skip tradition?"

I was twenty-four, and loved to go clubbing with my friends. Even though I hadn’t had a summer break the year before, I had still gone out with some of the other teachers on the last day of school to let off steam and celebrate the end of the school year, and I wasn't missing it this year.

"Good. Are you bringing Steven?"

"I think so."

"So, no dancing with hot guys for you then?"

We both laughed. "Steven's hot."

"You know what I mean."

"I'll leave all the other hot guys for you."

Ember grinned. "Okay, I can handle that."

* * *

"I've decided not to go," Steven stated as I got ready to meet the other teachers at Lock that Friday night.

"What? Why?" I questioned, looking at him through the reflection of the mirror as I continued to do my makeup.

"I'm thirty, Erin. Being in a sweaty club isn't something I want to do on a Friday night."

Oddly enough, we had met at a nightclub, but now he thought he was too old to go.

"Then what are you going to do?"

He shrugged. "Finish watching the game or something."

I turned and faced him. "You know I have to go, right?"

Steven nodded. "I know. It's tradition or whatever."

"Right. But I can make it an early night."

He walked over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist. "Do whatever you want to do. I'll be here when you get home, and after you do your classroom check on Monday, it will be you, me, and the Atlantic Ocean for nine weeks."

Steven and I had been dating for three years, and I was hoping he would propose over the summer break.

"I can't wait." We kissed lightly, and then he left the room.

I finished getting ready, dressing in a simple black dress, black heels, and pulling my long brown hair into a high ponytail before taking a cab to the club.

* * *

Ember, Candace, and Krystal were waiting in line when I showed up at Lock. We were the youngest out of the teachers—and the only ones who had partaken in the tradition the year before.

"Just us again?" I questioned as I got into line with them.

"When we say it's a tradition, we just mean it'sourtradition," Krystal advised.